My name is Inga Jäkel, I want to share my experiences in the Philippines. Between January - December 2014, I lived and worked in various areas of the “Country with the 7.107 islands”. I was there with a German NGO called IPON (International Peace Observer Network) that cooperates with Human Rights Defenders (HRD), such as Human Rights organizations and individual persons in the Philippines. The main field of work is to show presence as an international observer, to accompany HRDs, to observe and to inform the public. We have two teams in the Philippines, situated in Mindanao, Malaybalay and Negros Island, Bacolod. Both teams work with different HRDs, however the situation the HRDs are facing is virtually identical in most cases.